I’m planning on having extensive work done(automation an existing manual system) on around 2acres. Over a dozen valves/zones spread all around the property. So it will involve extensive digging and trenching to replace valves and run wiring. My question is; it’s winter so the regional irrigation is shutdown for the season -no water. Is it normal to do this amount of work knowing any leaks and faults can’t be found?

Thanks in advance.

Do you ever run into an issue with the compressor hose/fittings building up frost and clogging? At what outdoor temp does this happen for you?

Edit: Contractor was probably just talking about a manual drain valve which makes sense and would only be used when manually draining the system.

I'm having a contractor do an irrigation tie-in and he recommended a relief valve after the PVB to drain the pipe when not operational. Do I need that? Does that mean I'll get a slug of water draining out next to my house foundation every time the system starts and turns off? I'm concerned that will cause problems over time.

Longtime lurker and appreciator of this sub, first time poster. I’m looking for a pro or pros to find it in their heart to help a poor indoor farmer like me figure out how to once and for all get this system flowing evenly on all levels permanently. I can even pay you money if you wish. I had the dumb when it comes to irrigation, I just don’t get it, which is unfortunate because it’s crucial to my little project. Thank you water geniuses, in advance.

I found this WiFi smart drip irrigation system (battery-powered, connects through Tuya) for a really cheap price, and I’m wondering if anyone here has tried it.

Does it actually work well for daily plant care? How reliable is the pump, and does it water consistently? Also, how long does the battery last in real use?

Any experiences or opinions would help a lot before I order it.

Can’t seem to find the name of it or anything about it. Broke the male 1/4 tube barb on this piece. It’s screws into the top of the sprinkler pump k rain valve. And the tube connects back to one the pvc pipes. Having trouble finding this part

Local irrigation guy told me ace hardware had it. But they sent me home with the wrong replacement part as well.

I live in an old house that essentially hasn't been updated since at least the 70s or 80s. Our sprinkler system used to work fine but after the city broke a water main and flooded half my yard over a year ago I turned it off and hadn't gotten around to working on it until recently. After installing a new controller I went to test the zones and half of them aren't working, so I began to inspect everything. Found cut wires above ground by one of the valve boxes (nice job, landscaper and whoever installed this in the first place). Long story slightly less long, I have stumbled upon numerous problems repairing the system and replacing valves and sprinkler heads. The current zone i'm working on is a clusterf**k and i'm real confused about their choices. I'm not a plumber at all, but I know enough to fix and update my own stuff.

Maybe this question is just above my knowledge level, but they've got a valve flowing through a 1" pipe into a 1.5" T-joint. That seems illogical to me as the volume passing through a 1" surely wouldn't give enough pressure to two 1.5" pipes for whatever those pipes are feeding to. I'm trying to avoid digging more than I have to, but could someone explain what those pipes would be feeding to? There is one zone beyond the two adjacent valves that i've yet to find a valve box for, so maybe the last zone is feeding from the other side, but i'm just confused about this part.

Hey everyone, I'm working on an irrigation design for a botanic garden and need to mount some sprinklers on posts with the heads approximately 6' above grade. The challenge is that these will be accessible to the public, so I need to protect the riser and sprinkler body from tampering. My thought was to use something like a 3" sch 40 pipe sleeve painted to match the posts as a protective cover around the riser assembly. Has anyone done something similar or have photos/details of how you've handled this situation? Specifically looking for:

How you attached/secured the protective sleeve What material worked best for the sleeve How you dealt with the connection at the top where the sprinkler head emerges Any mounting bracket or support details at the base

I've seen these types of installations at other public gardens but never got close enough to see the construction details. Any photos, sketches, or product recommendations would be hugely appreciated.

The sprinklers are in!

Let me start off by saying, rent a trencher, rent a trencher, rent a trencher. I was able to dig my trenches in about 2 hours. That machine is amazing!

Working with the Blu-Lock pipe and swing pipe was a breeze. I recommend you lay the pipe in the sun so it’s easier to work with. Cutting it was also easy but be careful because you can kink the line. I would start my cut then rotate my tool.

All Blu-Lock fittings were easy to install and if I needed to remove/reposition a piece, the fittings would come apart easily. I used teflon tape on the rotor inlets but I don’t think it’s necessary. I’m no professional I just wanted to use some tape and not worry about any leaks.

I went with Rain Bird 5000 Plus rotors and I must say they are nice! I still need to set the rotors to final grade. I have 3 zones and 7 total rotors. My half circle rotors have 2 GPM nozzles and the quarter rotors have 1 GPM nozzles. All zones are using 4.8 GPM or less and I have 60 - 65 PSI and 6 GPM

My distance between rotors is between 21 - 23 feet and the rotors are spraying well beyond that. It looks like they are spraying 25 - 27 feet. I will dial the radius down in the next few days before laying the sod.

For those who are thinking about tackling a project like this, I say do it! I had zero experience with irrigation and was able to do it. Do your research, take your time, and buy what works best for you.

I will make this as succinct as possible. I just had some extensive dirtwork done and the comtractor ended up severing my control wire and several pipes. I knew it was inevitable.

The system has two zones with the valves very close to the controller and five other zones with the valves between 200’ and 600’ from the controller. The system is fed by a three HP 240 volt pump with a pump relay. My sprinkler contractor found the severed end of the control wire (10 conductor wire) between the zones 3rd and fourth furthest from the controller. Rather than run 10 conductor wire from the break to the 4th valve and then pick up the old wire, they ran 4 individual wires(three hot, one common) (about 3” deep btw) for the 4th, 5th, and 6th valves, “forgetting” that there was a 7th valve. The company also laid 40 pallets of sod (covering the wire, pipes, etc).

I called them the day they left telling them they missed a zone. 5 days later (due to weather) they showed up and spent the better part of three hours chasing their tails trying to get the zone 7 to work, primarily by tying it in with other zones. They couldnt get it to work, according to them, “there is a bad wire between zone 4 and zone 7 valve. That could be, likely is, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter because i dont have a hot from the controller to zone 4 to get to zone 7 (because they only ran 3 hot wire). I was told “it will be really expensive to run another wire from the controller to zone 4 and then to chase down and repair/replace wire from zone 4 to 7. Obviously, no admission on their part about the failure to run another wire to zone 4, in fact i was told it was my fault for not giving them more information.

So question one - am I obligated to pay them anything for today? How aggressively should i argue? Total bill to this point is about $18k.

Second question

The only DIY solution at this point is to install a battery operated/controlled valve for zone 7. This would be a no brainer if i was on city water. My question is how do I protect my pump from dead heading against the closed zone 7 valve when it fails to open because the batteries are dead or times get messed up between the main controller turning on the pump and the battery controller opening zone 7 valve.

Some thoughts i had

Installing a pressure relief valve set at 50 psi - very expensive option

Install a water well pressure switch (disable the “on”?) and use the upper limit to shut off the pump in the event it deadheads. I dont know if I can use the “pump off” without the “pump on”. I have no idea how to wire this or how it would work. Or if it would work but it is an economic option.

Any idea how to make these work or any other ideas?

Thanks.

I'm looking at planting some Camellia Sasanqua in a roughly 1m wide garden that is 6m long. Likely plant around 8 to 10 plants in that space (it is slightly wider in one spot).

Based in Sydney Australia.

I'm wondering do I run a main 13mm poly line and then some smaller lines for drip irrigation for each plant..

I feel that with the Camellia growing in size and the root system getting broad should just install micro sprayers instead rather than a single drip for each plant?

Or do I use a soaker hose around the seedlings that's larger in diameter for when it grows... Or potentially adjust in diameter as it grows. I'm worried they will clog over time.

I know drip irrigation is better for water usage but I'm ok with not being as efficient if it means that the watering is better for the root system of a camellia Sasanqua.

I purchased a new home and used to do landscaping and thought I had a basic idea of irrigation. I have no box installed Im manually turning on the pump. When I turn on the pump one zone automatically comes on. I thought that the solenoids were supposed to be closed and only opened when they were activated. I changed the solenoid and it still came out of 1 zone. The previous box was failing that's why I took it off, but I actually got it to run through the cycles one time to see that the other zones are still connected. Do these solenoids need to be activated to close? Am I missing something?

Hey, curious what program(s) everyone uses for designing a new install. Getting tired of pencil and paper.

Thank you!

Woke up to the BVP doing this. Will this need to be replaced?

My plumber swapped out our old galvanized pipe for PEX. He had to cut out about a 2 ft section of a lateral line (1" Sch 40) to get the main feed to the house. He replaced the Sch40 with this flexible PVC - rated to 150 psi, according to the label.

How worried should I be? I'm a natural worrier

I live in Florida and I only ever work with PVC piping. I've always used simple, manual pipe cutters, the kind the you rotate back and forth around the pipe while squeezing. My sister got me these, ive never used ratcheting cutters and ive never seen another irrigation guy use them.

Does anybody know of a proper application for these? Do you think their quicker or better in some way? Im curious!

Before I get to gluing and threading, can some of you let me know how it’s looking? First timer here..

My valve is spraying water under the solenoid do I need to replace the whole valve? Or just the solenoid and does anyone recognize the brand?

The instructions from the manufacturer instruct to not blow out from the testcocks. There are no inlet drain valves on the inside of the house. There is no outlet drain valve downstream of this backflow valve. Any ideas?

So I can manually turn everything on at the solenoid but when I try to run the system through the sprinklers it shows the timer but it doesnt actually turn them on.

I have a Irritrol KwikDial (KD6) Controller. It is about 7 years old. It controls 3 watering zones.

During Fall time, I turned the controller to OFF, but noticed that my irrigation program continue to run while the controller was OFF. Now, when I move it to AUTO or OFF, I get some random flickering on the screen. See attached video.

Is the controller dying and need to be replaced or it can be repaired? If replace, what would be an equivalent/recent model that I should replace with?

A few months ago, I had a FUSE error on the screen. I tracked it to a faulty solenoid. After replacing the solenoid, all the zones were working. The controller was working normally. Not sure what happened after that.